In the final days of World War II, Allied troops raced to capture Hitler’s mountain home, the Berghof – high in the Bavarian mountains.
For years, this secluded retreat had existed apart from the world below – an Alpine idyll of sunlit terraces, picture windows and political theatre. By May 1945, it had become the final refuge of a collapsing regime.
In the hours and days that followed, American and French soldiers swept through the buildings. The first arrivals claimed the crystal, silver and manuscripts. Latecomers scavenged whatever was left – books, linens, even scraps of carpet. The war was over and Hitler was “kaput”.
Their spoils were shipped or carried home as souvenirs – soon becoming family keepsakes or objects of curiosity. As the war became more distant and the world moved on, many of these treasures and trinkets were discarded, destroyed, or sealed away for decades in old footlockers.
What you see here are the pieces that survived – and have so far surfaced. Once scattered to the wind, now brought back together.
For a time at least.